Top Startups of 2010 - <AUTHOR> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_startups_of_2010.php

<comment><USER2> Three Y Combinator startups included - an impressive feat, even with the large number of YC companies. There's a lot of quality companies.

I have to wonder if Chatroulette belongs on the list as a "startup." It seems more like an internet fad of 2010, possibly the biggest one, but is it on the path to being a company with revenue?

<comment><AUTHOR> Three Dogpatch Labs companies included as well.

[http://ryanspoon.com/blog/2010/12/02/3-dogpatch-companies- in...](http://ryanspoon.com/blog/2010/12/02/3-dogpatch-companies-in-rwws- top-10-startups-of-2010/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> What is the criteria for this list? Some questionable inclusions that stand out: Chatroulette and Diaspora. Shouldn't companies included in a top 10 of _all_ startups of the year be profitable, or at least be on the path to making money?

</comment><comment><USER4> I hadn't heard of Rapportive (<http://rapportive.com/>) before. Very impressive piece of work form a technical standpoint. It will be interesting to see how they monetize the product.

</comment><comment><USER5> The only ones worth of this list are Quora and Square.

<comment><USER6> and instagram? people are crazy about it

<comment><USER7> One thing that's weird about instagram is that there are 0 reviews in the Apple app store. For an app with 2,778 ratings (as of Dec 2), you think there would be at least 1 review.

If anyone has an explanation for this, I would be glad to hear it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Seems like this post is 29 days too early.

</comment><comment><USER9> In the case of Hipmunk, I'm not sure why it's being touted as such an inspiring story of usability. I may be biased because I work at one of the big online travel companies, but I think hipmunk usability is terrible.

Their simple search wizard is great but it ends there IMO.

<comment><USER10> One thing about Hipmunk that mystifies me: the date-picker widget on the homepage. A friend of mine says "Have you seen it!? Check out Hipmunk.com. Awesome new user interface for booking flights." So I go to the site expecting some awesome, clean, super-thoughtful UI and actually got stuck for a second.

1) There isn't a direct visual relationship between the "depart" / "return" fields and the date picker (i.e. I didn't see a standard dropdown or calendar icon or way to pick a date)

2) I didn't realize that the date picker widget is one calendar, spanning two months. I thought it was two calendars: one for depart, one for return.

Wondering: Am I the only one? Did they actually test this? Would a "traditional" design with two fields, each with a calendar icon / dropdown perform better? OR, maybe two fields and one calendar beside or beneath each?

<comment><USER11> I really hate the way other sites have hidden calendars that pop-up. They all try to be too smart about it, and often ends up with me switching back and forth between mouse and keyboard. IMHO, some guy had a bad idea 10 years ago about how to do calendars, and everyone has been copying it since.

I think our version works really nicely if you know how it behaves. So, the challenge to us is to make its behavior more obvious.

Hipmunk's calendar has changed quite a bit since we launched, and I haven't heard much complaining lately. Maybe we just scared everyone away.

<comment><USER10> Here's an idea. See: <http://i.imgur.com/vTOKr.jpg>

What I did:

\- Increased priority of "depart and return" calendar.

\- Added "click or type below" to make instructions more clear.

\- Added a small indicator beside mouse pointer (when hovering over a date) to indicate the current mode of the mouse pointer (two modes: you're either hovering and ready to click on a depart date OR you're hovering and ready to click on a return date).

\- Subordinated the depart and return fields. Selecting from the date picker with a mouse should automatically fill these fields.

Why?

\- I assume (maybe wrongly so, I am not sure) that the date picker is the most common / popular / usable way to enter in the dates.

\- Compared to the current home page, I think this addresses my complaints (see earlier comment) in that it (1) significantly reduces the disparity between the date pickers and the fields, and (2) makes it more clear that the two calendars are in fact for the entry of both the depart and return dates (and not two separate calendars).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'd like to see what the total revenue for all ten of these are, because for the most part, almost none of these should be on the list of Top Startups of 2010...

<comment><USER13> Considering that the list is limited to "launched or founded" in 2010, I'd disagree that using revenue is the best metric.</comment></comment>


Bing search gets social with your Facebook friends - <AUTHOR> http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=437112312130

<comment><USER2> This might be quite a bit off topic.

But are any other coders a little tired of social features? I'm a pretty anti- social person. I always have a relatively small group of friends.

When more social features are added to something I do all it does is make me anxious. Since the anti-social programmer stereotype is played up quite a bit, I would assume my fellow programmers felt similarly. However the growing amount of social web applications is making me think I am alone in these feelings.

<comment><USER3> What annoys me more are websites that only let you log in with a facebook account. I don't want a facebook account!

<comment><USER4> Is there any website that does that (permanently, not as a "launch fast, details later" strategy)?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> And this is why I block all of the facebook "API" things through adblock. I don't want my search provider to know who I am, and I don't want to take any chance that my facebook friends will see things like what I searched for popping up on their status feeds.

I don't want this misfeature. If it comes to google, I will probably disable my facebook.

</comment><comment><USER6> i have been working on something similar to this:

<http://www.searchstream.co>

<comment><USER7> Typing "what's with the fish" into the search box had interesting results...

<comment><USER8> someone needs to do a little escaping there...

<comment> mike-cardwell Why do people continue to make these basic mistakes?

<comment><USER6> Not enough time. It's a side project. I will fix it tonight. I am at bob Dylan concert.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I can't help thinking this is the future. Like it or not, taking real peoples 'likes' and 'dislikes' into the search algorithm will significantly reduce the SEO spam overload problem that is plaguing google. Its been said many times on HN that google is becoming less and less relevant. Its the problem of getting a machine to make recommendations without any human intelligence.

The future of search will take into account input from the masses, and, at the moment, facebook are the people with the best access to this information. Be afraid google.

</comment><comment><USER10> Facebook is blurring the line between "personalization" and "social recommendations." The first tailors to your tastes. The latter influences your tastes. Clearly, the latter is more powerful from a marketing standpoint because it attaches a recognizable face to a product, rather than an explanation (or no explanation) of why your seeing x result.

</comment><comment><USER11> "reclusive but highly intelligent stereotype", lol now I don't feel so bad. but seriously, I can't get this bing social search to work. I've tried keywords I've seen occur many times in my facebook stream. It doesn't appear to be doing any "social searching".

</comment><comment><USER12> Holy cow, "Bing" appears in there _13 times_ (including the image), once even starting _and ending_ the same sentence. 14 if you include the title of the page.

Are they being paid by the instance?

<comment><USER13> SEO

<comment><USER12> by brute force

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> And Yahoo balked at paying $1b for FB.</comment>


Ask HN: How to welcome Technological Unemployment? - <AUTHOR>

As a society, being able to produce the same goods with less work is good news. The point where we can produce food for a whole country with 1% of the work required N years ago means that everyone can be fed. Same applies with all other basic resources and most of the advanced ones.
However, for the individual this means that 'middle' and 'low' skilled jobs are getting scarce as more and more things get automated. Only highly skilled and technical jobs (most people here probably) with many years of study and dedication are on the rise. Also, a single person working 8-ish hours a day can produce a lot more than 4 people working 2 hours a day so you cannot just make everyone work 10 hours a week. So my question is:
How can we grow as a society while making everyone able to take advantage of it?
Some notes and why this question is tricky:
- No one wants to do work they hate just so other people can take advantage of it. This discards the notion of open source, since most of it is pleasant or is done to scratch your itch. - Preferably short-middle term, country-independent answers. This discards concepts like Resource Based Economy (highly automated cities) as they are long term. - Basic income is a nice concept and basically I'm looking for answers in this fashion, but preferably not basic income on itself (since it's also been widely talked about). However I think it gets its good reputation from being seen as a "donation" to the poorer. I am asking more about a fair system within the current society. <comment><USER2> I wonder what it would be like if it were possible to add new dimensions to the economy. If we reward ecological, service and aesthetic contributions in a similar way we reward the exchange of scarce goods and services in the economy today... I wonder if anyone has put serious thought into how that could be done.</comment>


Top Tech Certifications That Can Net You A $100,000+ Salary - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/15-more-tech-skills-that-can-instantly-net-you-a-100000-salary-2013-4

<comment><USER2> My God. I hope people aren't actually thinking this article is anything other than complete horse dung.

I was in charge of a guy who was a CBAP (Cert Business Analysis Professional) at my last job. Incompetent, and paid well under what the article claims you can make. (still more than he deserved)

I love how the SBIP is referred to as "big data" cert....That is so wrong on so many levels.

</comment><comment><USER3> > Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)

I've worked with many people who had this. Some of them were decent. Many were terrible. Companies who employ software "engineers" based on this little gem of a certificate alone... beware!

Also it should be Oracle (not Sun) - which probably gives some understanding into the technical insight behind this article. If the Survey was conducted in late 2012 and people were still saying Sun... then I'm a little bit worried about the respondents too!

<comment><USER4> People regularly talk about education alone not being a good gauge of a candidate's actual skill and viability. If we accept that degrees aren't everything, then _certifications_ are all but meaningless--the primary thing they reflect is that, most likely, a previous employer paid for it, and thus thought you were worth investing in.

<comment><USER5> I find that certifications are often contra-indicative. I am afraid when people do not _ashamedly_ mention them.

<comment><USER4> Indeed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Is this an ad for certifications? Because they totally don't list what I thought they were going to list: actually being competent at creating something.

</comment><comment><USER7> It is quite rare for me to wish that I had a downvote button for stories... but this is that unusual exception. It is not technically "spam", so not appropriate for flagging, but this is an AWFUL excuse for a story which somehow manages to be FAR less useful than saying nothing at all.

<comment><USER5> Flag isn't just for spam, It's for articles inappropriate to HN

<comment><USER8> Source: <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

> Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate > for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going > to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; > there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also > comment that you did.

I.e., it's ok to flag bad articles.

The "Fight Club Rule #1 & #2" nature of this guideline always struck me as odd. I hate meta comment threads as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure how else to spread awareness about the guidelines.

<comment><USER5> Thank you, I tried to find the flag definition, I think newsguidelines.html is the wrong page, or it should ALSO be on the FAQ.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> How much can "Certified Hacker News Professional" get me?

<comment><USER10> Seriously. I think reading HN or at least some quality development blogs is probably a better indicator of competency than any of these certs. Just don't tell the incompetent people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> This should be titled "Top Tech Certifications" which is totally different than "Top Tech Skills" which is a list I was hoping to see.

</comment><comment><USER12> >1\. Six Sigma, $116,987

Sorry, I'll be in the bathroom, taking a barfing break.

But then again I don't care.

</comment><comment><USER13> CMMI: I will never list this on my resume, period. Not that I don't think CMMI can be valuable, but management never implements it properly and I don't want to waste 2 years of my life doing that ever again.

<comment><USER5> Or should you always list it, so you have the conversation if they try to follow that before you get an offer :D</comment></comment>


Facebook Launches "Insights For Your Domain" - <AUTHOR> http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/04/facebook-launches-insights-for-your-domain/ <comment><USER2> Interesting, but does not really offer much more than a number of shares for each page, and a demographic which for my sites was nothing unexpected.</comment>


List of 3D Game Engines - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines <comment><AUTHOR> Just out of curiousity... what are some opinions as to the best open-source 3D game engines as of Jan 1st, 2020 (the date of this post) ?</comment>


Bono predicted, Woz endorsed it - <AUTHOR> http://www.getsoundwave.com/hacker

<comment><USER2> I can't say anything about the app as I've not used it. However, the concept is (in my opinion) flawed for a large number of potential users - the music my friends listen to is absolutely no indication of what I might like.

I'm too old. I've spent the past 30 or so years (I'm 36) developing a taste of my own. I no longer meet or socialise with people around music (eg go to gigs with friends). Similarly, my "favourites" are people I admire and respect for things entirely different to what their music tastes are. Most of the new music I find these days is based on what _I_ listen to already or in curated theme-based playlists from sites like [http://ShareMyPlaylists.com](http://ShareMyPlaylists.com). Automating something like music discovery from a social graph is skewed (in my opinion again, and based on instinct rather than science) towards young people who still socialise in what I would call "taste networks" \- groups based around shared tastes. Older people don't do that in my experience.

Good luck with it though. There's still a giant market out there. And I'll still try it just to see what it thinks I might enjoy.

<comment><USER3> I agree. It's very difficult to estimate someones taste.

For example I like a hardcore band but only because they are different from all other hardcore bands. Most programs will estimate I like hardcore but that isn't the case.

I'm not sure but I think I like the music I like because they have this special 'mood' that fits me. And the lyrics are also important for me. Question is: how can we turn this into meta data suitable for matching.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting question ohwp. I do think that recommendation systems are only going to get better. Lyrics and sentimental analysis are definitely going to play a part in that.

One of the main reasons we built Soundwave though was to take a more human based approach to music discovery. Personally, I'd take three friends who have similar hardcore tastes than me over any system (currently built) because I too was annoyed at how poor the recommendations were. Our app will hopefully reduce the friction in finding those people with similar tastes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Just wanted to report that the app is now live and can be downloaded on the App Store and Play Store [https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/soundwave-music- discovery/id...](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/soundwave-music- discovery/id623353909?mt=8) and [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.soundwave.s...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.soundwave.soundwave&hl=en_GB)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The app goes live tomorrow in both the App store and Play Store. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the overall concept and on the product itself (more importantly) when it goes live.

<comment><USER4> Would be good if this information was on the website. I was trying to find out if it was available for android but couldn't find anything about it (or the app in general). That aside though, this looks really great.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi dsyph3r - the app will be available on Android too. I'll follow up with the relevant link tomorrow when it's live. Looking forward to seeing you on on the app!</comment></comment></comment>


VW opens preorders for the ID.3, its first long-range electric car - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/8/18536668/vw-volkswagen-id-3-preorders-oelectric-car-long-range-ev <comment><USER2> After the terrible treatment I received as a Volkswagen TDI customer, I will never buy another VW. Period. They fraudulently sold me a car, then managed to finangle their way out of any financial restitution by putting up not only extensive hurdles for customers who wanted to opt for restitution instead of return, they then penalized customers who experienced delays due to their internal system faults by simply rejecting applications for restitution that were even a little bit out of spec.

Never. Again.

<comment><USER3> Owned a 2001 Jetta. The number of parts I had to replace became more than the cars worth. I will never own a VW anything because of the terrible reliability.

<comment><USER4> When did these issues start happening?

I own a 2009 rabbit and have no faced any issues beyond routine maintenance. Guess I should knock on wood.

<comment><USER5> I've owned many VWs and Audis, and the 2008 Jetta I bought (albeit with a manual transmission) is still going strong. Not a single service issue, to date. It must have almost 200K miles.

<comment><USER6> Any tips on how to heel toe in this gen jetta? The pedals are so awkwardly placed...

<comment><USER5> Tough... I agree with pedal placement. I was probably more prone to occasionally stalling in intersections, but then I took the car to SF and drove there and got the feel dialed-in real quick.

I've since bought newer cars and gave this one to a relative. It's still on the original clutch/transmission, so I guess I didn't do too bad.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Interesting (and great that the bigger manufacturers are starting to come through with their electric offerings) but the price:range ratio doesn't seem great compared to the Tesla model 3?

It's hard to be objective with all of the strongly pro- and anti-Tesla nonsense flying around, but I've had a sneaking suspicion for a while that once the market matures a little (with eg Audi, VW, Porsche all offering their first-gen EVs) Tesla's offerings will be seen as more revolutionary (or at least, taken less for granted) than they currently are...

<comment><USER8> The least expensive Model 3 in Germany is 57.900 EUR with 540km (wltp cycle) of range – part of this is that they've only been exporting the high margin long-range AWD models. The more expensive "First Edition" id.3 will have approx 425km of range for 35.000 > x < 40.000EUR. Even taking the top end of that range, it seems the $:km ratio is in favour of the VW. If the First Edition battery is equal in size to the yet-to-be-released 58kWh battery, it seems the efficiency is at least comparable to the M3 as well.

Plus, you probably get a better interior. Certainly a better built one…

<comment><USER9> If the interior is anything like my Tiguan... I would greatly prefer my Model 3 any day. I don't _think_ the ID3 is going to come with a premium interior... haven't seen any photos of it so I could be wrong.

<comment><USER10> I might be mistaken, but it's a 20k euro price difference isn't it? I'd hope the Model 3 has at least a nicer interior to justify the cost.

<comment><USER11> You may have missed the context in the comment they replied to. I don't believe anything in the comment you replied to contradicts what you said.

> Plus, you probably get a better interior. Certainly a better built one…

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is great news and now we need them to deliver (and not delay/back out). I hope they sell a ton. We really need an entrenched player to fully commit to selling EVs. If VW goes all-in, everyone else will have to follow suit. Tesla needs to keep the pressure on.

<comment><USER13> > We really need an entrenched player to fully commit to selling EVs.

I don't feel that this is a problem because of California laws regarding EVs, forcing every manufacturer to sell more EVs every year.

<comment><USER14> well those mandates aren't doing much:

[https://i2i.org/california-ev-mandates-fail/](https://i2i.org/california-ev- mandates-fail/)

i agree the comptetion between established players is required and hopefully leads to solutions to the main problem keeping many people in ICE over EV: range

<comment><USER13> That's a bit disingenuous. Without those mandates there would be a lot less auto manufacturers with EV models. CA has jump started the EV industry with those mandates. Could there be more EV owners? Sure, but this is still a huge improvement.

<comment><USER14> are you claiming Volkswagen is in the ev game because of california?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> What game industry and preorders have taught us — never do any preorders until the real thing is out and first reviews start coming in.

<comment><USER16> The only regret with pre-ordering a Nissan Leaf before release was that the company Nissan hired to run the pre-orders fucked it up. People who ordered up to six months after we did got their cars months before we did.

But when we were finally given a hard date, it showed up on that date, and we've been happy with it since. The only reason I don't jump in line for the ID is because my wife and I are _really_ hoping they build that concept van to replace the '81 VW Westfalia we've got now. They announce that for pre-order, and it's "shut and take my money" time.

<comment><USER17> If this[0] is what you're talking about, my wife and I also really want it to be a thing! (EDIT: If it's _not_ , would you mind posting a link?)

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_I.D._Buzz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_I.D._Buzz)

<comment><USER16> That's the one. Pretty much decided we've purchased our last ICE, and the '05 Scion xB DogMobile wouldn't hurt to be replaced by 2022.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I'm completely clueless about electric engines so I was wondering if, besides range, there are other attributes one should look for in an electric car like HP and that kind of stuff? In other words, are all electric motors so similar that range is the only differentiator?

<comment><USER19> Range Battery Cooling technology, steer clear of air cooled Charging rates Weight Cd

From my view weight is the big limiting factor in EV efficiency at lower speeds and Cd becomes more important as you increase your speed to highway numbers and higher.

Engines are important as the company Munro pointed out during their tear downs. They stated that Tesla had by far the most impressive EV motor they have seen based around how they implemented the magnets and their inverter work finally coupled to a battery solution that proved naysayers wrong.

That out of the way, I would not fret over motor differences. It all comes down to, if it passes the initial three features I listed about then concern yourself with, do you like how it looks, how it drives, and does it fit in your lifestyle. In no shape or form think you will save money parting with your current vehicle for a new one however if you already were decided to change cars and EV may fit your lifestyle.

There is a good possibility many EVs will be rear drive which will greatly improve driving dynamics, the ease of packaging opens up many options

<comment><USER20> The interesting thing is that these motors are not made by Tesla.

<comment><USER20> Ps: What I was referring to is this: [https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27790/toyota-gears-up-to- becom...](https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27790/toyota-gears-up-to-become- global-ev-systems-supplier)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I like that electric cars are starting to have smaller hoods. With the battery located at the bottom of the car and the electric motors at or in the wheels, there is no need for a long hood.

Just switching to electric will not solve our mobility problems. Cars need to get smaller and lighter and we need fewer of them, not more.

I'm looking forward to what's on the horizon in the european L7e category (up to 450kg w/out battery), for example the Microlino. DLR is also doing some interesting research in this area with their NGC Safe Light Regional Vehicle (SLRV). They recently did some crash tests with promising results: [https://www.dlr.de/dlr/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10122/333_r...](https://www.dlr.de/dlr/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10122/333_read-29340/#/gallery/31720)

</comment><comment><USER22> Is there a reason to start this new model name vs simply calling it the 2020 "eGolf"? Is the eGolf basically a hack design and the ID3 a true, ground-up electric design?

<comment><USER23> Or VW is trying to get some association with Tesla model _3_

Wow how very uncreative, I would be too embarrassed by such blatant copying

model => Id 3 => 3

New name ID3

<comment><USER24> _cough_ BMW i3

<comment><USER25> And Audi A3, BMW 3 series etc.

<comment><USER23> The word model has similarity to the word ID

I'm not saying the number 3 is owned by tesla

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I hope this platform succeeds. I've been following the planned microbus refresh eagerly, and it supposedly will be built on the same.

</comment><comment><USER27> > buyers will get up to 2,000kWh of charging for free during the first year.

That's about £250 worth of electricity - if you charge solely at home. From fast chargers, that's about £750 - £1,000.

Not a bad incentive if you do lots of long journeys and _need_ to charge at a motorway service station. But perhaps not as generous as it sounds for more typical use.

<comment><USER28> Seeing as how that would ring up to around $160 here it makes me wonder how much cost different going EV would be for me personally. Unfortunately fuel is also cheap here at $2.28/gal on average the last month or two and I average around 37 to 46mpg in a non-hybrid turbo car.

<comment><USER16> At $0.10/kWh, my napkin says EV is still around half the cost of gasoline per mile.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Maybe details are not visible but overall body shape can be figured out and... unless it's full placeholder then for me it's completely disappointing. I'm aware that design was decided, created, analyzed and discussed by teams of highly competent people but for some reason it's against my "common sense". Tesla and this ID.3 are in similar price range [1] and Tesla just looks way better, customers who are buying EV are not traditionalists and I'm pretty sure that modern look is something as important as modern vehicle features. ID.3 aesthetics are just like old boring ICE cars (same thing can be said about audi etron)

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19870034](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19870034)

</comment><comment><USER30> I've seen a few e-golf's charging on the streets in the past few weeks in Berlin. I assume these are pre-production models. Looks like a normal Golf aside from the charging port.

From my understanding, this is a big step for VW. However, short term, they will likely have range and production capacity issues, just like Tesla did not exactly hit the ground running. I would not be surprised if this is merely a stop gap solution until they get cheaper/better models out. Short term, Tesla could really make VW hurt by ramping up production and dropping price and competing with both their ICE and non ICE offerings.

<comment><USER31> _> Short term, Tesla could really make VW hurt by ramping up production and dropping price and competing with both their ICE and non ICE offerings. _

That's a very big _could_. Tesla have an advantage in terms of battery availability, but they simply don't have the expertise and the experience to build cars at real scale. Tesla are literally building cars as fast as they can, but they've still got a multi-year backlog of orders. Their defect rate is the worst in the industry by some margin and they have a huge amount of catching up to do.

[https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-model-3-target- by-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-model-3-target-by-reworking- thousands-of-cars-2018-8)

VW have been planning this for years, they have decades of experience in auto manufacturing, they have a proven record of quality and efficiency, and they can scale up very quickly. _If_ they can get a reliable supply of batteries, they aren't bottlenecked by production capacity in any meaningful way. The real challenge for VW is almost certainly marketing - they have a very large dealer base that needs to be retrained in how to sell EVs and they don't have the viral cachet of Tesla.

<comment><USER2> VW also has years of fooling themselves by prioritorizing the diesel technology over electric development and running an enormous fraud in the process. This will have held them back. I don't think VW can ramp up as fast as they will want.

<comment><USER32> Musk goes around calling people pedophiles and is high on Ambien half the time.

Does that mean we should discount Tesla'a manufacturing ability as well ? Or maybe this like the diesel issue has nothing to do with manufacturing.

<comment><USER2> The point is that by running the fraud they reduced their own ability to actually develop the necessary technology for the future market. The fraud affected their own prioritization decisions, and teams were assigned to continue diesel development based on a lie they were telling themselves, which is that diesel is great and could be economically made to comply with tighter emissions requirements. Development of electric was underfunded and late, and now they are rushing to catch up.

Maybe they'll get it. But they stacked the deck against themselves, and I wager they haven't worked out the kinks in their suppliers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Are they really naming it after the MP3 tag format?

</comment><comment><USER34> Way too expensive for mass market appeal.

The basic Golf costs about 17,000 while the ID.3 starts at 30,000 Euro's.

</comment><comment><USER35> [

<comment><USER36> With the newer 350kW charging stations you can charge up to 80% in about 15 minutes (ie. for a Model S battery). So not much more than filling up with gas. Granted cars which support this will be available at the earliest next year.

<comment><USER37> I think you are underestimating just how much energy is in a gallon of gas.

In terms of miles per hour of charging or adding gas, gas is still massively faster. Tesla says the new charging stations are 1000 miles per hour.

A gasoline car that gets 25 miles/gallon, at a gas station with pumps that go at 10 gallons per minutes, "charges" at 15000 miles per hour. (10 gallons per minute is the maximum allowed in the US due to EPA rules).

A lot of real world pumps don't achieve that maximum, but usually achieve at least at least 1/3 of that, which would be 5000 miles per hour, still 5 times faster than the upcoming faster Tesla charging option.

One advantage for the EV, though, is that it might be safer to step away from the vehicle while charging? When filling up at a gas station I want to stay with the car because a gas spill can be dangerous. That means any trips to the station's convenience store or bathroom cannot be overlapped with fueling.

I'm guessing that there isn't much that can go dangerously wrong if you step away from a charging EV, and so you can overlap your convenience store and bathroom visits with the charging time. That might be enough to make the total stop time comparable or less for the EV in many cases, even though the actual charging is 5 to 15 times slower on the EV.

<comment><USER38> The 1000 miles per hour figure is burst, not sustained. As the battery fills up the charge rate will slow.

There is a fire risk to charging, but there's nothing you can do about it, so it's better to exit your car.

<comment><USER39> There is very little evidence for "fire risk to charging". Anecdotally most people at Superchargers sit in their car. The charge rate does slow as the battery gets full. But it's rarely necessary to charge fully. The optimal plan is to arrive at the Supercharger almost empty and charge only enough to get to the next one. That way most charging is at higher rates.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Why does it still look like a concept car?

</comment><comment><USER41> Time to nationalise by the Council of European Union and rename it into _Bundeswagen_ , because it is no more an automobile for _folks_.

</comment><comment><USER42> Based on th emissions scandal, I'm unlikely to ever consider a VW vehicle, period. Even though most of the auto industry is also full of dirty money grubbing scum.

Not sure what the best move is, until giving it more thought I'm avoiding purchasing another vehicle.

<comment><USER43> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeat_device#Timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeat_device#Timeline)

Good luck finding a car manufacturer that can deliver and isn't on that list.

<comment><USER44> Is Tesla too obvious to consider?

<comment><USER45> No, just somewhat irrelevant. The defeat device was installed on ICE engines to meet emissions and economy standards, standards which don't apply to electric cars. Since Telsa doesn't make any ICE cars, it's as easy to compare a bicycle to Volkswagen versus a Tesla. They're just in completely different conversations when it comes to emissions cheating, since they don't have any regulated emissions.

<comment><USER44> The statement was "Good luck finding a car manufacturer...." Tesla is a car manufacturer. Seems pretty relevant to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Christ they couldn't come up with a better image than that?? Is that really what the thing looks like?

<comment><USER47> For some reason, automakers seem to like to cover their under-development vehicles in garish camouflage. Like this one from 2016: [https://electrek.co/2016/07/27/daimler-etruck-first-all- elec...](https://electrek.co/2016/07/27/daimler-etruck-first-all-electric- truck-125-miles-range/)

<comment><USER48> Isn't the reason obvious? They don't want to give you a good look at the car just yet, and would much rather make your eyes bleed till proper PR shots are done and dusted.

Plus it looks cool as, when you spot the most jarring car on the road!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> As a German - this is really embarrassing. Old managers, old technology, old dealer infrastructure - painted in freaking childish colors. Really guys? That's the best we can do...?

<comment><USER50> > As a German - this is really embarrassing.

What's really embarrassing is that German authorities and engineering bodies did not nail to the wall the VW execs that pushed the 'Dieselgate' fraud.

The reputation of German engineering was worth billions - those crooks took some millions to the bank uncontested, and now "cheats and liars" is the word.

Good going.

<comment><USER25> > What's really embarrassing is that German authorities and engineering bodies > did not nail to the wall the VW execs that pushed the 'Dieselgate' fraud.

They literally investigated and brought criminal charges. Those people are likely to get punished to the full extend of the law, which in a lot of those cases will mean prison time. What more do you want? Death penalty without a court case?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER51> I don't know how we're trusting a company that lied about emissions to create the next generation of electric cars. After the TDI and TSI scandals, I know many people who hope this brand does not survive.

I will never buy a VW, Porsche, or Audi if my life depended on it.

<comment><USER52> What brand do you recommend then, one that does not deceive or lie about their cars' emissions?

<comment><USER51> The TSI scandal is not over emissions. They put bad parts in cars and the engines were failing before or near 100,000 miles.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How do you sell/market youself? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I'd 'blog' a lot on Facebook. It worked. Got me nearly 100% of contracts, matched me with VCs, and so on.

Too bad FB has a lot of downsides. I quit and I'm back to silently building skills and avoiding any self-marketing.

</comment><comment><USER3> 20 years into my career and it's all word of mouth.

Before that it was all just submitting resumes.

And before that it was all cold calls to different companies asking if they were hiring for my position. My record is 600 calls in two months.

</comment><comment><USER4> Blogging is good! I've gotten freelance opportunities through people reading my articles; I mainly blog about testing.</comment>


Show HN: CryptFolio – a decentralized app to manage cryptocurrency portfolio - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/kherwa/cryptfolio <comment><AUTHOR> CryptFolio is a small client side application, where you can save your cryptocurrency portfolio. It uses IPFS to store your encrypted portfolio and Ethereum blockchain to store IPFS hash. As far as UI is concerned, it is not good at the moment.

Requesting feedback from all, about the concept and UI. If found useful, will work on incorporating additional features and improving user interface design.</comment>


What's the Deal with Fish Oil? - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/opinion/16greenberg.html?_r=1

<comment><USER3> While this isn't directly about the article, anyone who regularly takes fish oil should read "The Great Fish Oil Experiment" by Ray Peat at <http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/fishoil.shtml>.

That linked article goes in to way too much depth to really paste anything useful here but he basically says that while there are short term benefits to fish oil, it could actually be quite harmful to take it in the long term.

<comment><USER4> As someone who recently started taking fish oil (prescribed my my doctor) due to low HDL levels, I find this highly frustrating. And it's not like I could just eat _fish_ ; it seems most of our fish sources are contaminated. The more I learn about nutrition, the more uncertain I become about what to eat, and the angrier I become towards our entire agricultural industry.

<comment><USER5> I was a one-time subscriber of Men's Health and let me tell you something: everything, absolutely everything is potentially bad for you.

In one issue they could say that drinking a beer a day in moderation can prevent certain cancers and taking too much health supplements can cause irreversible, long-term damage to your liver. Then six issues later they could say to get the dream abs you've always wanted, you must take these same health supplements every day and cut out all beer.

They can provide facts and statistics to sell you any nutritional scare story, and the whole game is this: they want you to think that you NEED them, so that you will continue to buy their magazine. Most people take one story or more from this type of scare tactic and run with it. Every diet has its secret. Every nutritionist has his angle to keep you living for longer or to get results in the gym faster. No wants makes money on the obvious: eat equally from every food group and without bias, exercise regularly (cardiovascular and weight training) and most importantly - have a bit of luck on the way - <USER2> you'll be fine.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> FYI, the author mentions "flax oil also fits the bill", which from what I know, and from the most recent Nutrition Action Newsletter (nonprofit consumer information organization), isn't true. It's in their latest (November) issue, but I can't find a link to it online. <http://www.cspinet.org/nah/index.htm>

Flax oil I believe contains mostly omega-6, which people aren't generally as needy of with our current diets.

<comment><USER7> As I understand it a high amount of Omega-6 means that you cannot absorb the omega-3. From WP:

> Thus accumulation of long-chain n−3 fatty acids in tissues is more effective > when they are obtained directly from food or when competing amounts of n−6 > analogs do not greatly exceed the amounts of n−3.

Fish oil contains a higher ratio of omega-3 to omega 6 than other sources (flax seed).

Also, fish oil contains Vitamin D which is very good for teeth (if you get enough vitamin D, holes in teeth repair themselves).

A lot of fish oil is also specified as "cod liver oil". So I don't think that it uses the above fish and i don't think that the cod livers is used in food (so it is a byproduct).

<comment><USER8> > Fish oil contains a higher ratio of omega-3 to omega 6 than other sources > (flax seed).

NO.

On the contrary, flaxseed oil has more v ω-3 than ω-6.

Flaxseed oil: <http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/7554/2> RATIO: 43 Salmon oil: <http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/632/2> RATIO: 23 (allegedly the best fish oil for ω-3) Cod Liver Oil <http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/628/2> RATIO: 21.5 <http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/629/2> <http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fats-and-oils/633/2> ...

<comment><USER7> I read the following in wikipedia (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid>):

> Flax, like chia, contains approximately three times as much n−3 as n−6.

> Oils from these fish have a profile of around seven times as much n−3 as > n−6.

Obviously WP is not infaliable and needs to be corrected.

(I usually drink Flax seed oil because fish oil seems grouse).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> And the funny thing is the Omega-3 oil in question comes actually from algae and not fish. I bet it's even easier to get it directly from the source.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docosahexaenoic_acid>

<comment><USER9> _I bet it's even easier to get it directly from the source._

I think in terms of what is economical for food production and what is bioavailable to human eaters, that is not the case yet today. Scientists are working on that, I have read elsewhere.

<comment><USER10> > I think in terms of what is economical for food production and what is > bioavailable to human eaters

I've been taking Algae based DHA supplements for a while. The consensus seems to be that it should work just as well as DHA from fish oil but so far there are no studies using this form so it isn't 100% certain. The cost is somewhat more than fish oil (maybe 2 or 3 times the prices) although I'm sure that is mostly because it is a niche product. There are also version with both DHA and EPA but they are a fair bit more expensive and the conversion of ALA to EPA is generally viewed as good enough for flax seed oil to be used for EPA.

<comment><USER8> There are studies with pure DHA, EPA, and ALA. The source shouldn't matter the result of those studies.

<comment><USER10> Thanks it's good to hear.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The omega-3/cardiovascular disease prevention is a weak link at best. From this Cochrane Collaboration meta review: <http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab003177.html>

It is not clear that dietary or supplemental omega 3 fats alter total mortality, combined cardiovascular events or cancers in people with, or at high risk of, cardiovascular disease or in the general population. There is no evidence we should advise people to stop taking rich sources of omega 3 fats, but further high quality trials are needed to confirm suggestions of a protective effect of omega 3 fats on cardiovascular health.

There is no clear evidence that omega 3 fats differ in effectiveness according to fish or plant sources, dietary or supplemental sources, dose or presence of placebo.

<comment><USER12> This is from 2004, there has been serious criticism of their conclusions. See for example [http://www.issfal.org.uk/index.php/lipid-matters- mainmenu-8/...](http://www.issfal.org.uk/index.php/lipid-matters- mainmenu-8/hooper-rebuttal-mainmenu-38?showall=1) two key paragraphs (but they list several other concerns as well):

 _The null conclusion of the Cochrane report rests entirely upon inclusion of one trial, DART 2 2. This was a randomized dietary trial with clinical endpoints testing the effects on total mortality of either giving advice to eat fish or providing fish oil capsules to men with angina. Surprisingly, while total mortality was not statistically different in the two groups, there was less sudden death in the control group than in the intervention group. Upon exclusion of DART 2 from the meta-analysis, the overall decrease in relative risk with omega-3 consumption became similar to that reported in a previous meta-analysis by Bucher et al: 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.75 to 0.91) 3_

 _In our view, the weight of the evidence available in May of 2006 is sufficient to conclude, even in light of the Cochrane analysis, that EPA and DHA reduce risk for cardiovascular diseases. Not only do we feel so, but also the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology 15 , the European Society for Cardiology 16 , a systematic review conducted for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at the NIH 17 , the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis 18 , and a number of other national and international bodies 19-22_

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> A lot of fish oil is made from other sources of fish, such as sardines and anchovies.

<comment><USER14> Indeed. My bottle (bought from costco) cites those two fishes as ingredients.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Parts of this article is almost word for word straight from the wikipedia article on the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhaden>.

<comment><USER16> And if that guy who keeps editing the Wikipedia page doesn't stop, this article is going to become wholesale plagiarism!

<comment><USER15> No, I checked the wikipedia article on the date before he published his piece.

And yes, some of his article is making his way back to wikipedia - but now wikipedia has a ref.

<comment><USER17> That might be a business opportunity - create a magazine that publishes rewrites of Wikipedia articles in need of references (for a moderate fee). It could actually even be a magazine with interesting, if diverse, content!

<comment><USER18> I just subscribe to the Daily Article ML (<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l>)!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I've been planning to get fish oil for quite some time and today I finally bought some capsules. Thank you frankus for the reminder :)

EDIT: Hm. Maybe I've should've RTFA before I commented. I hope that the product I bought is one of the 75 that do not deplete the menhaden stock. Maybe a certificate for this would be nice?

</comment><comment><USER20> Hempseed has good levels of omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, with whole seeds are especially nutritious.

</comment><comment><USER21> Walnuts.

<comment><USER22> The deal with fish oil is walnuts?

<comment><USER23> 'Walnuts are also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids': <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnuts>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I get a kick out of these consecutive sentences:

> the company's ... continued right to fish in federal waters, means a half- > billion menhaden are still taken from the ecosystem every year. ... this > egregious privatization of what is essentially a public resource is > shocking.

The whole issue is that _public_ federal waters and fishing rights are being abused but this guy complains the problem is privatization.

<comment><USER25> Ah, it's a private company that does all the fishing and books all the profit. As in, catches 90% of the fish. Apparently they don't need any special license to do this.

Your point was...?

<comment><USER24> Is it really going over your head that the issue here is the fishing rights are public? Tragedy of the commons, all that?

<comment><USER25> You're right. What we really need to do here is grant a monopoly, which will solve the problem immediately. Then we can move on to privatizing the air and things like that.

<comment><USER26> Interestingly, if air were in danger of being over-breathed then privatization would be the best solution. The only reason we don't have a tragedy of the commons in the air is that there's an awful lot of it and nobody has anything to gain by breathing a hundred times more.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard pool - k-mcgrady http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/a-stroke-you-must-have/?smid=tw-nytimes <comment><AUTHOR> With regard to swimming, there are huge differences between ethnic groups in the US: about 70 percent of African-American children, 60 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of white children are _non-swimmers_. [1] [2]

A few years ago, my wife worked on an ethnographic research project about the lack of swimming skills in the African-American population. One thing that was striking was the difference with other multi-cultural countries --e.g. the UK and South Africa-- where there are no such differences in the acquisition of swimming skills between ethnic groups. In the UK, learning to swim is part of the national curriculum, unlike the US [edit: I don't mean this to be an exclusive explanation].

On a personal note, the notion that so many US children don't know how to swim is horrifying. I consider it a basic life skill, as important as knowing how to cross a road. My daughter learnt to swim before she learnt to ride a bike.

[1] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us- canada-11172054](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11172054)

[2] [http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/swimming-and-the- fe...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/swimming-and-the-fear-factor/)

<comment><USER2> > In the UK, learning to swim is part of the national curriculum, unlike the > US.

More details on exactly what kids in the UK are taught:

 _Swimming and water safety: All schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2._

 _In particular, pupils should be taught to:_

 _\- swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres_ _\- use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]_ _\- perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations_

[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national- curricul...](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum- in-england-physical-education-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in- england-physical-education-programmes-of-study)

Key Stage 1 = Years 1 and 2, so aged 5 to 7 years. Key Stage 2 = Years 3 to 6, so ages 7 to 11.

From my own experience 25 years ago that last bit, about safe self-rescue, involved:

* how to enter water safely if you need to (ie. jumping or lowering yourself in, when not to dive etc) * making floats out of clothing (ie. your old pyjama bottoms) * swimming underwater, including through hoops weighed down on the pool floor with bricks (presumably to mimic navigating tight flooded spaces) * treading water (for AGES) * mushroom floating (not sure if there's a technical term for this?) * how to recover somebody from the water

We went once a week to the council pool on the other side of town and pretty much everyone, all 30 of us, had learned all that by the time we finished and left for high school aged 11.

<comment><USER3> And one key phrase in there that emphasizes a difference between the UK and US is "council pool". My experience in the US - even in Massachusetts where they actually have functioning local government and aren't too afraid of providing public services - is that providing a swimming pool is a pretty low priority for town government. Often a pool will be provided by the local school system, but access will still be based on a membership fee, which excludes a lot of people from access.

<comment><USER4> Council pools will still charge membership fees or one off fees for use by non-members. Though these fees are probably somewhat cheaper than they would be if privately provided.

<comment><USER3> One off fees are fine - my experience in the US is that pools that allow any non-member access are few and far between.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Dateline: nineteen seventy-mumble. School swimming lesson, small town rural Australia. Me, aged seven, evidently having a mild but irritating panic attack about having to go into the water. Swimming instructor gets sick of my shit and throws me in. Oddly, this does not reduce my panic attack! He pulls me back out again and yells at me for disrupting the class.

... And learns an important lesson: if you're going to lose your cool and throw a kid in the pool because he's misbehaving, _don 't choose the school principal's son_.

We got a new swimming instructor... but I never did learn to swim worth a damn. I make a point of living inland.

<comment><USER6> It's good that you got someone fired because of who your parents are, top job.

<comment><USER7> Throwing a seven-year-old kid into the water because they're having a panic attack is absolutely grounds for firing. It's putting their life in danger. That instructor had no business teaching children how to swim if he doesn't understand basic water safety.

It's unfortunate that not everyone may have been able to rectify the situation the way that etfb could, but it's not like (s)he was abusing that power.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> So maybe it's a good thing Americans are becoming more buoyant?

I'm joking of course, although the number of unintentional drownings in the US has been dropping steadily since the 80s, and researchers have not been able to fully explain the cause...[1]

[1]: [http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=190416](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=190416)

</comment><comment><USER9> In swimming, elite swimmers are about 300% more efficient. This means that instead of 97% of their energy going to fight water resistance - 93% of their energy goes to combat water resistance, leaving 7% for forward motion. The average swimmer is lucky to get 2% to 3% of their energy to forward motion.

No wonder why most average athletes who do not know how to swim efficiently are winded. They just literally ran through a 25m wall of water.

To beat the odds, learn to swim like a fish.

[http://totalimmersion.net](http://totalimmersion.net)

</comment><comment><USER10> They should have gone to Georgia Tech. At least until sometime around 1990. Before then, every Tech grad was required to take a course in "survival swimming". We had to learn to float for something like 45 minutes, swim the length of the pool underwater, swim with weights attached.

I guess a lot of engineers found themselves shipwrecked or something.

Actually, the concepts were developed by a Techie back in days of yore, as I recall it. Still, it was a fun class.

EDIT- of course there's wiki entry. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drownproofing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drownproofing)

<comment><USER11> At MIT they still force every undergrad to either pass a swim test or take a swimming class. If I recall correctly, the test included both several laps and 10 minutes of treading water (which is harder than it looks).

<comment><USER12> I believe the treading is only required for the "boating test", if you plan to sail or row.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> My father is/was a fisher and I come from a community that has a high proportion of people who fish generally. You'd be surprised how many fishers can't swim, despite spending their working lives out on the water.

The justification I heard was usually along the lines of "If you fall out of a boat in the middle of the sea then you're either wearing a survival suit and it floats for you... or you're not and you're dead anyways.".

(My father even fell in once, but he was wearing a survival suit.)

</comment><comment><USER14> I guess I don't think this is very important. The key is to exercise your heart, and there are plenty of easier ways to do that.

I think people focus too much on running and swimming. Both are difficult; running puts a lot of strain on your body as it counters forces several times its own weight 180 times a second. Good for your bones, if you can handle it. Swimming is less strain, but the equipment is very, very expensive. If you can only do it once a week, you're never going to get good enough to enjoy it.

For that reason, I recommend cycling. It's lower impact than running, and less expensive than swimming. What I like is that you can choose the exact level at which you want to exert yourself. Want to train at 75% max heart rate? Type in the number and pedal less hard if you're over, and pedal harder if you're under. Easy. (Modulo traffic and pedestrians.)

I like running and everything, but I weigh about 15 pounds too much to not hurt myself every time I go out. So cycling it is.

<comment><USER4> The downside to cycling is definitely safety unless you're using a stationary bicycle which is boring as hell. It can also get relatively expensive.

<comment><USER14> Cycling is expensive if you want it to be, but if you're trying to get exercise, there is no point in optimizing for the weight.

The difference between a 200 pound rider on a 15 pound bike and a 200 pound rider on a 20 pound bike is a $2000 rounding error.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Probably some people know how to swim, if you can and want to do something else. Try out the navy seal stroke - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lUHudMN1TU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lUHudMN1TU) , i just recently found out about it :-)

</comment><comment><USER16> In Australia (80+% of population living on the coastline) it's common to see schools providing the "Bronze Medallion" ([http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/training/bronze- medallion](http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/training/bronze-medallion)) as a recommended course for students.

I'm not sure how applicable this would be to the USA, but I can't see that it would hurt (it also provides basic first-aid training and CPR practice which have saved some lives as an incidental side effect).

<comment><USER17> Same in Sweden, but it's for pupils in secondary school and it also covers stuff like getting yourself out of ice holes and swimming in cold water with lots of clothing.

<comment><USER16> That would have been very useful the time I almost died falling into a frozen creek skiing in the Australian Back-Country. For a country that only has a few square kilometres of skiable terrain in winter, it's got some _really nasty_ terrain!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I'm in the UK we where taught to swim at primary school and one of my secondary schools had a pool and it was part of PE.

Saved my life when I was in my late teens and screwing about on some rowing boats on a local lake and fell in.

I also pulled a kid out of a local boating lake though that was mostly shallow enough to wade (which I didn't know till I'd dropped in and might not have done if I wasn't a reasonable swimmer).

It is definitely a skill that should be taught at school (not to mention it's fantastic exercise).

</comment><comment><USER19> As a regular white 30 year old guy from the UK I find it _so_ strange that so many people don't know how to swim. I know it is a common (American-centric) stereotype that black persons do not know how to swim and generally hate water but all of my black friends swim just fine and find the stereotype kind of strange too. Seriously swimming isn't that hard people and it is a skill that could very easily safe your life.

</comment><comment><USER20> I spent six years in the US Navy, and never learned how to swim before or after I joined.

They give you a basic swim test, administered by Navy SEALs. It involved (at the time, mid-90s) jumping from a 25ft high diving board into a pool, and treading water for a bit. This simulated having to dive over the edge of a ship in case you had to evacuate.

Anyway, I climb up, get to the edge of the diving board and just freeze. A very unhappy SEAL actually had to climb up and push me off the board. I must have been a really sad, pathetic case because one of the other SEALs doing the training pulled me aside and worked with me for the remainder of the day so that I could pass the swim test later that afternoon.

Kinda makes me wish I had learned when I was a kid, or had the time to learn now. At least I can still tread water.

</comment><comment><USER21> A lot has to do with the location. They claim a lot of statistics from Minnesota but maybe they forget that the water is COLDER THAN A WITCH'S TIT when it's not frozen. It's not exactly the best place to learn to swim.

Also, judging by how my kids handle the water at Santa Cruz, young people are invulnerable to cold water. That explains why fewer young people drown - invulnerability.

<comment><USER22> I lived in Minnesota until age 30 and your assertion about water temperature is flat out wrong. Summers in Minnesota are much hotter than in say, San Francisco, and the water in the lakes is very comfortable for swimming.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Just knowing how to _float_ would already prevent many cases or drowning; never mind being able to move around in the water, being able to not sink into it is in many cases more than enough. As someone who does know how to swim, once you figure out the floating part, movement then becomes pretty easy.

</comment><comment><USER24> 32% in Finland, even though most kids are taught to swim at school. 28% of school children can't swim. Note that the definition my source uses is that you need to be able to swim 200 meters to "be able to swim".</comment>


Meet Other Hacker News Readers In Real Life - <AUTHOR>

Hey All, We just released our app Circle which tells you when people from your networks or your friends are nearby.  We were trying to think of different online communities of people that we thought it would be interesting to meet in real life and Hacker News was one of the first that came to mind.  (I've personally met numerous awesome people through Hacker News... one of which I just saw reading HN on his laptop at a cafe and randomly struck up a conversation about string theory :).
Anyway, we created a network specifically for HN Readers and would love for people to join it and hopefully start connecting offline!
http://discovercircle.com/hacker-news <comment><USER2> Having met Dan Shipper in real life was really cool. We still occasionally talk on Skype. I think this is a great idea. I'll definitely be looking into this and seeing who else I may meet.

EDIT: Bah, no WP7 app, but it's understandable since most of HN probably isn't using that OS.

</comment><comment><USER3> Really interesting! Does that work for international users? I'm from Brazil and the form don't accept my phone number.

</comment><comment><USER4> Cool idea, I've been to Hacker news meetups and met some smart guys. Curious to see how this works out in real time...

</comment><comment><USER5> Clicky <http://discovercircle.com/hacker-news>

</comment><comment><USER5> Giving my phone number makes me uncomfortable.</comment>


Evolution of Marketing – From 1950 to 2017 - <AUTHOR> https://firsthive.com/blog/index.php/2017/03/01/evolution-of-marketing-from-1950-to-2017/ <comment><USER2> Interesting stuff, would love to learn more about it. I might as well just do my own research on evolution of marketing. Thanks for the idea !</comment>


OS X Reviewed - <AUTHOR> http://hypercritical.co/2015/04/15/os-x-reviewed <comment><USER2> I don't know how many were in this camp, but with every OS X release I was more excited about reading Siracusa's review than upgrading.

While I started only with 10.3, I have found reading the older review as a fine page of OS X history. Maybe Siracusa these should become a book. Maybe Apple should move to OS 11.

<comment><USER3> "I was more excited about reading Siracusa's review than upgrading"

That explains why video game commentary is a thing now.

<comment><USER4> Is it information addiction?

<comment><USER3> Don't think so; there are better ways to get informed.

The comment made by jballanc probably gets it- "he would always manage to cover some new feature or other thing I didn't know about". People look at the same thing in different ways. When we read a review or watch a game commentary, we are really trying to know how another person may look at it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> John Siracusa has suffered with RSI for many years. He wrote most of these massive reviews with voice recognition software. He talks about his RSI in this podcast:

[http://techdistortion.com/podcasts/pragmatic/episode-50-acci...](http://techdistortion.com/podcasts/pragmatic/episode-50-accidental- clicking)

<comment><USER6> RSI for longer than 3 months is no longer a physical issue but a mind-body one. He should read up on Dr. Sarno's work. I cured my RSI in a matter of weeks, after close to half a year of anguish.

<comment><USER7> I also cured myself the same way over 12 years ago. Aaron Iba wrote up a good account of his experience which is very similar to mine:

[http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi- pain.htm...](http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html)

I agree that while the symptoms of RSI may be physical, the root cause is psychological.

<comment><USER6> What a coincidence! Your article was actually one of the things that I read that pushed me over the edge and gave me the certainty required to break free from the idea that there was something physically wrong with my muscles and led to finally curing myself. I could have been stuck in that cycle for years. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> As jarring as it will be to not have a Siracusa companion volume to 10.11, 15 years is a fine career in what has essentially been a one-man industry. He's no doubt inspired countless other tech writers in his run, and I look forward to seeing the next generation start upon the path he has so expertly forged.

No one may be able to truly replicate a Siracusa OS X review, but the person who really gets what made them great will probably do a bang-up job.

</comment><comment><USER9> As a fellow old soldier in the Platform Wars of the late 90's and early 00's (and the guy who often gets confused with you, and vice versa), let me welcome you to Fiddler's Green :-)

It's not so bad here. At first, the transition from "guy who does this thing that's really important to me and my tribe" to "guy who used to do this thing that was really important to me when I was part of that tribe" is kinda terrifying. Then you realize that this is the fate of everyone who helped create A Moment, and it's kinda cool once you settle into it.

Sure, there are a few people who have the talent and energy to keep forcing themselves into new Moments, but even Madonna is old now, and all she did was stave off her "hey, you used to be that guy!" phase by a decade or so. And at what price? At some point, doesn't chipping away at and polishing and spit- shining and agonizing over your latest cultural product start to feel more than a little bit like slavery? I know it certainly did for me. Being a slave to your own brand is no way to spend a life.

Speaking of Madonna, I find that I sometimes identify with interviews given by older musicians, like an interview I read with David Gilmour where he tells the reporter something like, "please stop asking me about Roger Waters... I'm in my 70's and that was only 17 years of my life and it was a really long time ago."

When I read that, my first reaction was, "oh man, is that my future?" But my second reaction was, "whatever he thinks of Roger Waters, and whatever he's done since then, he did some amazing work in those 17 years that touched a lot of people and became a part of who they are." There much worse fates than having a truly excellent slice of your work define you when you're 70. There are plenty of other people who've done a lifetime's worth of equally excellent work in total obscurity, and would love for someone to care enough to ask them about any part of it.

Anyway, I imagine that, like me, you're not out there looking around for another Moment to insert yourself into, but it could be that a new Moment will find you. After all, isn't that how it happend the first time around?

Now, back to work... Fiddler's Green is a nice place to visit and catch up with old friends, but we're both way too young to take up permanent residence here :-)

<comment><USER10> >There much worse fates than having a truly excellent slice of your work define you when you're 70.

But these reporters aren't asking him about his work. They're asking his for gossipy statements about his tensions and fallout with Waters. They give no shits about the music, they just want to get an old man angry.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> When people have asked me for examples of the very best long form technical writing for the Web, I point them at these articles (particularly the Snow Leopard review which is my favorite). Not only does John seem to have a solid grasp of _everything_, he makes it all entertaining.

<comment><USER12> Agreed - I thought the Snow Leopard review was a classic, and I read through it several times, savoring his perspective.

What I liked about his reviews, is that he _intentionally_ did not make them comprehensive. He saw his goal not to rehash all of the Apple Documentation (which you could read if you were interested), but rather to provide his _opinionated_ perspective on what was interesting, and what spoke to the general theme of OS X's progression.

His reviews will be missed, but I agree, 15 years of stress/agony is more than enough for one man. He's leaving on the top of his game.

<comment><USER13> His Snow Leopard review was also in part a classic because the release was a classic. Nothing was left unturned in that OS, it was a goldmine for a guy like him.

I hope a feature release will be of a similar caliber (i.e., "make ALL the things better") and I hope Siracusa is strong enough to stay away from it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Thanks for all the really detailed and well written reviews over the years, John. I especially remember printing out the OS X Tiger review and setting aside a long lunch at Chipotle while going through it in my college days.

I used to look forward to the Siracusa reviews as much as the OS releases themselves. This year there will be a void, but hopefully someone like iMore or MacStories will fill that void.

<comment><USER15> OS XI: Siracusa

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> My favorite Siricusa review line [0] (of many, this one is about 10.7 lion):

'Finally, we come to the heart of the matter. In Lion, what does Apple say to the god of file system death? "Not today."'

He is referencing this iconic moment [1] from Game of Thrones.

[0] [http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/07/mac- os-x-10-7/13/](http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7/13/)

[1] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvAUJ4i9GoY&t=6m58s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvAUJ4i9GoY&t=6m58s)

<comment><USER17> Yeah but HFS is more like Joffrey than Arya. We want it to die ASAP.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> This is very sad for me. I feel that such in-depth reviews come out very rarely these days, and losing one of the greater ones really makes me sad, both individually about these reviews, but for tech journalism in general.

I started reading the reviews a few years ago, when I started a Mac/iOS career, and was hooked instantly, going back to older Mac OS X reviews to read about technologies.

</comment><comment><USER19> Siracusa is one of my favorite podcast voices. I was really surprised to hear how gregarious a person he seems to be, considering the autistic level of detail he always put into his OSX reviews.

We have similar ages and technical backgrounds so any time some misapprehension of POSIX or USB or Star Wars comes up on a podcast he's always the one who explains it to the other hosts, but in a relatable or entertaining way.

<comment><USER20> >autistic level of detail

I would use caution in making armchair diagnoses like that. However, while we are throwing around psychological terms, I do believe that "anal-retentive personality" is quite apt.

<comment><USER12> I'm not sure either applied, as least from the four or five reviews that I read in great depth. His reviews were opinionated, and touched on themes that he though were important - but by and large weren't overly detailed or comprehensive. He sought to capture the overall arc of the growth of OS X, rather than regurgitate every new feature.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Siracusa's OSX reviews offered the same quality and attention to detail Apple puts into their best products. The reviews were also an incredibly valuable resource in the early days of OSX when it was hard to find any good coverage of the Mac news in the mainstream tech media. The reviews were my only exposure to the Mac platform at this time. His obvious nerd credibility made me stop and pay attention to what Apple was doing. I believe Siracusa's reviews helped create a new generation of Mac users.

</comment><comment><USER22> Hopefully we begin to see more in-depth toaster oven reviews now.

</comment><comment><USER23> They're incredible, absolutely incredible.

As an Ars forum member from back as early as 2001, I appreciate everything you did, John. Thanks!

<comment><USER14> Siracusa's OS X reviews, and Jon Stokes' excellent explanations of computer hardware, will both be tough to beat. Ars had some truly amazing stuff in the mid 2000s.

<comment><USER24> Those two were actually mixed up in my head and for the first however many episodes of Hypercritical I thought I was listening to the guy whose book on CPUs I was thinking of buying. Siracusa was entertaining enough that I didn't mind when I realised, and have listened to him since!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This is very disappointing. When a lot of online writers announce their retirement/shift of focus, there's usually alternative sources for similar (if not the same) content.

With Siracusa that is definitely not the case. His OS X reviews are irreplaceable. Nothing comes close.

</comment><comment><USER26> Hey just a note that there is an incorrect date mentioned on the page: 'OS X 10.10 Yosemite – October 16, 2015' should be 2014

<comment><USER27> Looks like this has been updated now

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I've read his reviews since Snow Leopard I believe, and totally respect and admire his work, but I find the you-dont-know-my-struggle tone he takes in this insufferable. I'm not saying it was an easy gig or anything but I'm dubious of how much 'mental anguish' is involved in reviewing an operating system. And how out of touch need one be before complaining about a noisy air conditioner seems reasonable?

<comment><USER29> No one really knows anyone else's struggle. To think otherwise is, well, insufferable.

</comment></comment><comment> ux-app I've never been a mac user and even I thoroughly enjoyed his write ups! John's certainly earned his place in the long form tech journalism pantheon.

</comment><comment><USER30> Big respect to Siracusa. I have enjoyed the reviews, the level of details and commitment to bring out the best in those articles.

</comment><comment><USER31> Without the Siracura's review I don't see any reason to move to OS X 10.11 or whatever is named by Apple.

</comment><comment><USER32> Thanks, Jon, for all your reviews. It's a sad day to have to look forward to a new OS X release without a Siracusa review.

How about a Kickstarter campaign to fund him taking a month off work to write another review? I bet we could get a sum of money together large enough to have him unable to say no.

</comment><comment><USER33> This is a sad day. Siracusa's reviews have always been the best part of an OS X review

</comment><comment><USER34> May be Apple should have called it OS 11 Siricusa

And Finally ditching HFS+ which he hate.

</comment><comment><USER35> I honestly bought my first Mac reading his review of Tiger and that OS was so great that I decided to switch from Gentoo to a Mac, buying a Macbook.

</comment><comment><USER36> I hope you enjoy the extra hours you get back.

In a way, I'll also enjoy the extra time I have in not reading the reviews - as much as I truly enjoyed them.

</comment><comment><USER37> I think OS X is really missing a good tiling window managers for developers. I think it is the only pain point that I found when using OS X.

<comment><USER38> Is it only me that seems to not care whatsoever about tiling window managers? I've tried them on Linux, for a good solid two months, still don't understand the fascination.

On OS X, I just use Expose or Cmd-Tab and Cmd-` shortcuts. I used to use Slate, but then ultimately gave that up as well. Maybe I use a retina screen at 1920x1200 so I can have a lot of screen real estate, but I haven't found the need to have a tiling wm at work either.

<comment><USER39> I don't insist on the tiling WM — they certainly don't work for everyone —, but I feel OS X's default WM falls on its face in a lot of cases simply as a "normal" style WM.

You mention Cmd+Tab and Cmd+`, which is a good example. Typically, I'd say I have a working set of windows consisting of gvim, iTerm2, a web browser (docs, research, etc.) and Hipchat. Cmd+Tab switches between _applications_ , which isn't quite appropriate here: first, it doesn't consistently highlight the highest window in the Z-stack for the application being switched to, and it drags all windows of that application to the top of the Z-stack, which very often includes windows I am not interested in. Cmd+` can correct for this, somewhat. What I really need is just straight manipulation of the Z-stack.[1]

I use Expose extensively, but I find I use it because I lack a good method above.

I think one of the big draws to a tiling WM is that it allows efficient layout of windows, _especially_ if you're coming from OS X's WM. Consider that OS X's WM's resize catchment area (the "border") is impossibly small; grabbing it with the pointer in OS X is a consistently jarring experience IMO — small resize catchments work better in a WM that allows you to resize with a keyboard+mouse shortcut. E.g., in MATE, if I hold Alt, I can click and drag anywhere within the entire area of the window to resize; this is much more fluid, and requires considerably less concentration to perform. (I can similarly move windows, which requires grabbing the title bar on OS X, but this is somewhat less difficult.) Note that I can do this the OS X way in MATE too: grabbing the edge works. I'd add that MATE also "snaps" windows to the edges of the screen, and to each other, which IMO also aids quick layouts.

[1]: This is a big reason for why I run MATE at home. Good old Alt+Tab.

<comment><USER40> Witch by Many Tricks [http://manytricks.com/witch/](http://manytricks.com/witch/) solves (for me) the app/windows switching problem with OS X. I started using it years ago because cmd+` is a 3 (4 with shift) key combination on my Italian keyboard but it's a very useful piece of software. (I'm only an happy user of it).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Amazingly detailed and interesting reviews. Its a miracle that he pulled it off for 15 years with a full-time job and family. Truly amazing.

</comment><comment><USER42> I haven't been an Apple fan since I was a kid, but I always enjoyed reading Siracusa's reviews a lot.

I'll be sad to see him go, but I don't fault him for quitting, nor do I fault his reasoning. The best reason to quit something is because you know it's time to quit.

</comment><comment><USER43> Luckily Peter Bright does not quit covering MS/web/programming yet.

</comment><comment><USER44> And Apple never did FTFF.

</comment><comment><USER45> tl;dr: Not an actual OS X review, just Siracusa saying he's retiring from reviewing Mac OS.

<comment><USER46> Just? JUST?! I think you mean the most important MacOS news ever, no?

<comment><USER45> No, _this_ was the most important MacOS news ever:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Makes sense. Realistically the last killer feature in an OS X release was probably spotlight in 10.4. Consumer hardware hasn't gotten much faster since then, and the last six OS X releases have all been pretty much just rearranging furniture.

I can't see much innovation happening in the OS space for a few years until we get widespread adoption of memristors, perhaps in 2020 when HP comes out with The Machine.

<comment><USER48> Are you kidding? No hardware improvement in 10 years? I have a PowerPC machine powered off in a closet that runs 10.4, which somehow I can't move myself to get rid of. Today's smartphones are more powerful. They have more RAM and a better CPU.

On the software side, I powered it on a year or so ago. Felt pretty different from recent OS X. I didn't remember it being as different as it was. (If you had said little substantive change since 10.6 I may have agreed more.)

<comment><USER47> There's no question smartphones are completely different, I'm talking about laptops and desktops. I'm writing this comment from my late 2008 MBP, which in terms of perceived speed is identical to my 2014 MBP work computer. If the new MBPs have Skylake then I'll upgrade because this one is starting to fall apart, but I'm certainly not pretending that it's going to make me more productive or have any tangible benefit.

<comment><USER49> > which in terms of perceived speed is identical to my 2014 MBP work computer

Yeh that's great if all you are doing is mild web browsing and sending emails. Last year I ditched my late 2008 MBP for a 2014 MBP (both 15") and the difference is astounding. I can play CSGO at 150fps rather than 25. Furthermore it doesn't overheat and shut down while playing CSGO. For work it is also a massive improvement when I run MATLAB scripts that involve huge matrix multiplications, inversions, SVDs etc.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Give-and-Go with PostgreSQL and Sequel (RailsClub 2013 Presentation) - <AUTHOR> http://jeremyevans-pres.heroku.com/railsclub2013/index.html?trans=no

<comment><AUTHOR> This is the presentation I gave at RailsClub in Moscow a couple days ago. It's a showoff presentation, so navigation is via keyboard (press z or ? for help), sorry if that makes it hard to read on a phone or tablet.</comment>


What Is Haberman? - <AUTHOR> https://regexking.info/2019/08/05/haberman.html <comment><USER2> Lots of places have multiple names, that come and go as the surrounding areas grow and merge, and sometimes de-merge as the new 'big area' merges with somewhere else and what was once a village name becomes an 'area' name. Sometimes you get artifacts like train stations or named parks left behind.

</comment><comment><USER3> For what is worth, Haberman does not seem to exist on OpenStreetMap, that would tend to give credence to the theory that it is not a local name.

<comment><USER4> The GNIS data was imported to OSM, and many of the items have not been further updated, so it can be pretty hit and miss.</comment></comment>